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Created May 7, 2011 09:05
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HOW TO INSTALL ncurses on MacOSX
$ curl -O ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ncurses-5.9.tar.gz
$ tar -xzvf ncurses-5.9.tar.gz
$ cd ./ncurses-5.9
$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local \
--without-cxx --without-cxx-binding --without-ada --without-progs --without-curses-h \
--with-shared --without-debug \
--enable-widec --enable-const --enable-ext-colors --enable-sigwinch --enable-wgetch-events \
&& make
$ sudo make install
@harijay
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harijay commented May 7, 2014

I could get the build to work. But canto ( a text based rss reader) was always giving a Segmentation fault with the compiled ncurses.

@NamanG
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NamanG commented Feb 15, 2015

I am getting the following error on running the ./configure :
ld: can't write output file: ../lib/libpanelw.6.dylib for architecture x86_64
clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)
make[1]: *** [../lib/libpanelw.6.dylib] Error 1
make: *** [all] Error 2

The detailed output can be seen here : http://pastebin.com/Z7sZgdUL

Can someone point out how I can rectify this?

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ghost commented Jul 21, 2015

I was able to install it from brew (brew install ncurses).

@lettergram
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I believe now it is

$brew install homebrew/dupes/ncurses

@ramiresnas
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hi guys, I am trying creates a simple app with ncurses library, but I'm not getting success, this is message of error:
Undefined symbols for architecture x86_64:
"_endwin", referenced from:
sair() in ncurses-45d10a.o
"_init_pair", referenced from:
_main in ncurses-45d10a.o
"_initscr", referenced from:
_main in ncurses-45d10a.o
"_move", referenced from:
_main in ncurses-45d10a.o
"_printw", referenced from:
_main in ncurses-45d10a.o
"_refresh", referenced from:
_main in ncurses-45d10a.o
"_start_color", referenced from:
_main in ncurses-45d10a.o
"_stdscr", referenced from:
_main in ncurses-45d10a.o
"_wattr_off", referenced from:
_main in ncurses-45d10a.o
"_wattr_on", referenced from:
_main in ncurses-45d10a.o
"_wbkgd", referenced from:
_main in ncurses-45d10a.o
"_wgetch", referenced from:
_main in ncurses-45d10a.o
ld: symbol(s) not found for architecture x86_64
clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)

anybody can help me ?

@thenamankumar
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Installing it via brew works fine for me: $brew install homebrew/dupes/ncurses
If you want to install homebrew, try this: /usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

@spannaexmachina
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spannaexmachina commented May 6, 2017

Linker issues mean that you didn't invoke -lncurses when compiling. ncurses requires this, as well as other ncurses libs, i.e. to compile a c file using ncurses and the ncurses' 'form' lib you'd use: gcc -o -lform -lncurses [file] [name]

If using xcode the linker options are buried under project->build settings->all->other linker flags.

@Birch-san
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If you came here looking for libncurses.5.4.dylib (for example because Wine whined): see my answer on superuser.

tl;dr: brew doesn't have a version that old, macports does (but it won't compile). compile it instead from the tarballs that Apple releases of macOS open source code.

@rugwirobaker
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How to you install it on linux though. I can't seem to be able to create the symbolic links.

@RandyMcMillan
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brew install ncurses
works as of Jan 27 2020

@8of
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8of commented Mar 24, 2020

@Birch-san
It works! Thanks!

@xinleihuang
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brew install ncurses
works as of April 1 2020

@catahache
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brew install ncurses
works as of April 1 2020

Hi! I'm a newbie, I don't understand... I have to put 'brew install ncurses' on my terminal?

@xinleihuang
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@ catahache, you probably don't have to, but you can use this command to install ncurses on a mac

@catahache
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@ catahache, you probably don't have to, but you can use this command to install ncurses on a mac

Thank you! and how do I make that code blocks reads it or how can I use it on code blocks later?

@ssvaddiparthy
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Can someone please tell how to make the ncurses library installed from brew to a project? I have set the following environment variables as my CPPFLAGS and LDFLAGS but it does not help.

CPPFLAGS=-I/usr/local/opt/ruby/include -I/usr/local/opt/ncurses/include -I/usr/local/opt/ncurses/include -I/usr/local/opt/qt/include
LDFLAGS=-L/usr/local/opt/ruby/lib -L/usr/local/opt/ncurses/lib -lncurses -L/usr/local/opt/qt/lib

@seanita
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seanita commented Apr 5, 2020

@catahache
Add #include <curses.h> at the top of your file.

@catahache
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@catahache
Add #include <curses.h> at the top of your file.

Thank you, I have some weird things going on... When I run the program on eclipse, some weird characters appears between, and I cannot make it function. When I try to run it on the macosx terminal, it doesn't load. But also it gives me no error.

I'm really new into programming, so maybe I need to set something or idk... I don't know how to set, for example, enviroment variables to set the TERM. Can somebody maybe help me? :( I'm going on for a week trying to solve this problem hahaha

@A00827463
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Hello,
Today I ran into the same problem and after looking at the responses and trying almost everything, I keep running into the same problem. brew install ncurses may work fine for some, but does anyone have any other ideas I could try. Would be highly appreciated.

@catahache
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Hello,
Today I ran into the same problem and after looking at the responses and trying almost everything, I keep running into the same problem. brew install ncurses may work fine for some, but does anyone have any other ideas I could try. Would be highly appreciated.

Sadly, I couldn't solve it :(

@jiyoony
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jiyoony commented May 13, 2021

hi guys
I have a problem like this...
I tried "sudo make install"
"? tic could not build /usr/local/share/terminfo
make[1]: *** [install.data] Error 1
make: *** [install] Error 2"
how can i solve it?....

@jiyoony
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jiyoony commented May 13, 2021

hi guys
I have a problem like this...
I tried "sudo make install"
"? tic could not build /usr/local/share/terminfo
make[1]: *** [install.data] Error 1
make: *** [install] Error 2"
how can i solve it?....

i solved it like this
$./configure
$make
& sudo make install

@jonhudson
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It's probably already installed as osx uses it. Just tell gcc to link to it: gcc -lncurses ...

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